You voted by the sackload to tell us who has the worst customer service in Britain . . . and the ‘winner’ is — HM Revenue & Customs.

Nearly one in three of all votes cast was for the taxman. Last year’s winner TalkTalk came a very close second. Spanish bank Santander was third.

Our annual Wooden Spoon award turns a spotlight on terrible treatment and the rotten service dished out by big companies and organisations.

Shamed: Thanks to computer trickery here's how Lin Homer might have looked had she picked up our prize

Every week, Money Mail receives a deluge of letters, emails and phone calls about your trouble getting simple problems solved.
In December, we drew up an eight-strong shortlist of those who featured most regularly, and asked you to choose the worst.

Thousands of you sent in your votes, and we totted up the results to crown HMRC the winner.
Its coronation as provider of the most rotten service is reflected in the angry and often desperate letters we received over the past 12 months.

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The taxman and its staff did you such a disservice that hardly a week passed without distraught readers getting in touch in a desperate bid for Money Mail to try to solve their problems.
And what nightmares you suffered.

Many received menacing letters asking for tax payments — often topping £1,000 — without any clear explanation why the money was due.
Others told of HMRC staff who simply fobbed off their inquiries with further confusing letters.

Yet more complained of having to register at least four complaints before their dispute was taken seriously.
In too many cases, pensioners with no experience of the tax system told of being overwhelmed by a blizzard of baffling tax codes — and getting no assistance from HMRC helplines.

Many of you described how you feel you are being accused of breaking the law when all you have done is fail to detect mistakes made by the Revenue itself.

When told it had won the award, Lin Homer, HMRC’s chief executive and permanent secretary, refused to be photographed with the trophy or give an interview. This is in contrast with previous winners who faced the music and accepted the gong in person.

With a little computer trickery we have mocked up a picture of what Mrs Homer may have looked like had she collected the prize.
In a series of emailed statements, she says the taxman is acutely aware of its service problems — and the impact it has on people’s lives. She also admits quicker change is needed.

Long wait: A report by the National Audit Office condemned HMRC for delays in answering its telephones that cost the public a staggering £33million a year in call charges

Mrs Homer says: ‘I’m well aware that when we get things wrong, real distress and anxiety can result.

‘We are very sorry for anyone who has not received the quality of service from us to which they are entitled. There’s a long way to go before we provide the standard of service to which we are committed.

‘We don’t expect people to be tax experts, so we aim to make our communications clear and transparent in all circumstances. But we are determined to do much better and we believe improvements are starting to show through.’

To try to make service better, she says HMRC has ploughed £34million into its call centres in order to ensure more people can get through to speak to staff.
However, this may be a drop in the ocean if the number of complaints Money Mail sees are anything to go by.

Over the past year, we have exposed shocking service at HMRC and its lamentable treatment of honest, often elderly, taxpayers when dealing with complex queries about underpayment of tax.

Only last month, a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) condemned HMRC for delays in answering its telephones that cost the public a staggering £33million a year in call charges.

The NAO said some 20million calls to its hotlines — including fee-charging 0845 numbers — failed to be answered in the 2011/2012 financial year.
And those who persevered and did manage to get through also had to hold on for longer to speak to an adviser — an average of four minutes and 42 seconds compared to one minute and 47 seconds in 2009-10.

It is the third year in a row that the three worst performers in the Wooden Spoon are HMRC, TalkTalk and Santander.
Although the taxman came top with 29 per cent of the votes, two-time winner TalkTalk wasn’t far behind with 27 per cent.

TalkTalk actually picked up a higher share of the vote this year than when it won the trophy in 2012.

And although Santander came third with 14 per cent of the vote, it is the only organisation to have featured on our shortlist every single year.